


Tra la la, It Doesn't Really Matter

by samsational



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Swapfell (Undertale), Drama, F/M, Family Fluff, Female Reader, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Still Deciding - Freeform, Mystery, Other, Possibly Romance, Reader Is Not Chara (Undertale), Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader doesn't like to be touched, Reader-Insert, Romance, Slow Burn, Song Lyrics, Songfic, Swapfell Papyrus (Undertale), Swapfell Sans (Undertale), We're going Underground, maybe? - Freeform, reader is an adult, swapfell - freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-15 04:10:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16055288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samsational/pseuds/samsational
Summary: A mysterious person pulls you into the Underground, a place full of violent monsters, and they leave a repeating little song in your head. You should be careful down here, or you may end up losing your life. Or worse, your humanity...Beware the one who came from the other world.Tra la la.





	1. Why don't you sing with me.

You had had enough.

 _Screw society, forget my so-called friends. Time to be a hermit. F*** all of y’all._  
You thought for the millionth time, muttering irritably to yourself as you drove your car up side of Mt. Ebott. Having sold nearly all of your belongings, you put that money to good use and bought a cabin in the woods somewhere up here. You purchased a PO box you could access without talking to or seeing anyone, paid an arm and a leg for high speed internet, secured a job as a ghost writer, and now you were out. This was it. Just you, the woods, and never having to deal with anybody's BS ever again. 

You made this change, this choice. It was a fresh start. A place where you could be the person you wanted to be. A better person.  
Anyone can change, right?  
Shaking your head, you take a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds, slowly letting it out as you weave your way up the mountain road. Scrolling through your songs, you choose one and sing aloud, letting your foul mood be carried away by the music. 

_“I had a dream we were sipping whiskey neat_  
_highest floor of the bowery, but nowhere’s high enough._  
_Somewhere along the line,_  
_we stopped seeing eye to eye_  
_you were staying out all night_  
_and I had had enough.”_

You will never have to interact face to face with another human being ever again. No one could touch you up here.

_“No I don’t want to know,_  
_where you’ve been or where you’re going_  
_I just know I won’t be home_  
_and you’ll be on your own.”_

Nothing would get better if you had stayed where you were. Too many people had lost faith in you, didn’t trust you. 

_“Who’s gonna walk you through the dark side of the morning?_  
_Who’s gonna rock you when the sun won’t let you sleep?”_

You had made too many mistakes. 

_“Who’s waking up to drive you home, when you’re drunk and all alone?_  
_Who’s gonna walk you through the dark side of the morning?”_

They didn’t believe in you anymore… 

_“It ain’t me…_

_No… no…_

_It ain’t me.”_

 

You pulled into the clearing in front of the old log cabin, staying in the car and humming along until the end of the song. It wasn’t the prettiest place, kind of run down, but it was sturdy, dry, and clean, according to the realtor. Getting out of the car and opening the back, you take out what was left of your meager belongings and carried them into your new home. 

As you opened the door you swear you could see a dozen spiders fleeing the sudden light. You dropped your suitcase by the door, went over the lumpy sofa that came with the place, and plopped down on it, not even bothering to turn on the light. What a day… what a year really. So much, too much has happened. Just… why? You bury your face into the cushions. Why did it always have to turn out like this? Why couldn’t people just… A burning sensation crept into your eyes, and your chest tightened. But no tears came. All of your tears had already been shed. 

You’d done everything you could to get out of that situation. You quit your job, you cut out the poisonous people around you… _I’m not a failure… I’m not like them, and so what? I’m done trying to be who they think I should…_  
Drawing yourself up, you stuck your chin defiantly in the air for no one in particular, and then laughed once without humor, falling back into a lazy lump on the couch. _I really did it, huh? I’m out. I’m out. This is what I wanted. But now that I’m here…_

“There has _got_ to be something wrong with me…” you lay still for a little while, contemplating again whether you were too far outside of 'normal' or not. Finally, with a half smile on your face, you stand up and force yourself out of your slump, hopefully for the last time this year.  
“Just keep swimming, I guess…”

***

Singing under your breath helps to cheer you up, as you begin to explore the cabin. It only had the ground floor and a basement. You swore there was supposed to be a loft, but if there was a hidden door in the ceiling you couldn’t see it. The kitchen, living room, and bedroom made up the main floor, there was a restroom downstairs, and also an outhouse across the backyard. You figured there were two for seasonal reasons, it must suck to trudge through snow just to use the toilet. 

Speaking of which, you might have to start up that fireplace soon. It was still only mid-fall, but it was getting colder out, and the sun was getting pretty low. Settling down by the fireplace, you find a box on the sill with three matches left in it. I’ll have to order more of these tonight, you think, as you strike up a fire and tend it until it warms the room. Smiling more genuinely this time ( _see? I’m fine on my own_ ), you begin to snoop around your new home. 

Surprisingly, there were quite a few things left from the previous owners. There was still a bed, sans sheets or pillows, but it seemed new enough and relatively clean. Though, you’ll probably sleep on the couch until you can order some sheets. You never know what’s been on someone else’s bed…  
There was a slightly warped dresser, it’s bottom drawer permanently stuck shut. It unexpectedly smelled rather nice, like old pine and smoke, it must have been well made. Other than that, there were only some old tissues in the trash (ew) and the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling beams. 

The more you explore, the more junk you find, the living room had the sofa and the fireplace tools of course, as well as a box-shaped tv that was outdated by a good 25 years. It even had a VCR, but no movies were left behind, which was a shame. In the kitchen you found an unplugged refridgerator and a microwave that looked like it was from the 1960’s. There was a table with no chairs around it, and sitting in the center was a jar of bonbons with a faded card next to it. You had no idea how old those could be so you didn’t take one, but you did smile at the sight. They reminded you of the butterscotch candies your late grandmother used to give you for the holidays, but they had been so old and solid that they nearly broke your teeth. You always ate them anyway. 

Down in the basement were some haphazard boxes full of more oddities and knick knacks that you could spend a couple hours looking through, and there was even an old rotted bean bag chair! Yeah, you were gonna throw that out. There was a not-quite-so-old washing machine in the corner next to the fuse box and the pipes that ran up from the well under the house. It looked like there was a wine cellar down here too, which was unexpected but very cool. Maybe there’ll be some vintage wine in there to celebrate your new beautiful solitude. At least you think its a wine cellar, the brass curved handle seems a little out of place, and checking it you find it’s locked. Well, it had to be something fancy, there was an intricate pattern painted onto the door, with triangles and what looked like wings. It was too pretty to be just a closet. 

_I wonder if theres a key somewhere…_ Trekking back upstairs you go to the kitchen, to the note from the previous owners. It was terribly faded, but it looked like instructions and a welcome to the house. They must have been trying to sell this place for a while. Squinting, you barely make out that there are keys in the kitchen drawer. Which was also stuck. 

“Oh come on. Throw me a bone here…”  
You pull, push, wiggle and smack the drawer until you eventually get it open a half inch. Getting an idea, you run to the other room and grab the firepoker, and you stick the end of it in the drawer. Hoping you don’t break your kitchen but too impulsively invested in your quest, you pull your makeshift lever down. You feel the drawer give suddenly and the whole thing pops out of the counter and falls to the floor. 

Success!  
“Ha!! You thought you could beat me?!” Flourishing your poker like a sword, you taunt the drawer.  
“You come into MY house,” you ephasize with a gesture, “and think you can hold out on me?”

The drawer didn’t reply.

You burst out laughing. 

“….god I’m such a dork.” You slow down a little as your smile falls, kneeling down to pick up the drawer. But with the drawer in your hands you pick yourself up again and stick out your chin.  
“You know what, no. I’m allowed be a dork. Nobody here to judge me.” You balance the drawer on your hip and salute with your new favorite toy, grinning as faux-manaically as you can.  
After cheerfully placing the poker on the counter, you observe your prize. There are 4 keys in the drawer, some faded yellow notes that look like letters, which you wonder if the owners forgot, a cheap plastic pen, and a little fridge magnet. Picking up the magnet you see it looks like a little white dog.  
“Awww! So cute! You are going right on the fridge.”  
The notes like the personal sort, but they’re so old you don’t think the owners will mind. You put them on the counter for later as well. Looking through the keys, you can immediately tell which one belongs to the mystery door. It’s dark and heavy, and it has a little heart on the handle.  
“Oh god, I hope its not the crypt of the original owners lover or something….” _Maybe I should read the letters first. Just in case…_

Placing the drawer on the counter with the poker, you walk over and flop down on the sofa to get comfortable. You pull out the notes and look for dates or anything that could help you put them in order. There’s nothing really that you see, they all look equally old, but none of them are folded, which makes you wonder if they were ever sent. All are addressed to ’Diggory’, and they were signed either Rob Porter or RP. Since you couldn’t find an order you just picked one and began to read.

>   
>  Diggory, 
> 
> I’m feeling better this week. My head’s clearer and I can actually enjoy the good weather. You were right, of course, once I cleaned out the room I wasn’t as afraid of it. I still hear it speaking, especially when I’m trying to sleep, but with the medication I can ignore it.  
>  I heard it again last night, it only said “Toriel has a favorite food.” I have to admit I don’t understand that one…. Is that a reference to the thing from before? You told me not to listen to it, but maybe I should get a few more mushrooms anyway.  
>  I hope your family is well. I look forward to seeing you on Sunday. 
> 
> Rob Porter  
> 

That was weird… so this person was on medication? _Or they were on shrooms…_ You thought, flipping through the letters looking for another mushroom reference to try and explain that.

>   
>  Diggory,
> 
> I wasn’t a good day today… It didn’t stop all morning. With its “Tra la la”s and “Somewhere its Sunday”. It even put on a ‘concert!’ It hummed for FOUR HOURS! What am I supposed to do? You’re the doctor, help me here!  
>  I can’t take this. Tra la la. That damned voice behind the door… TRA LA LA. I’m about to rip out my hair. But you know? I can’t do that! Because the voice that YOU SAID doesn’t exist said that’s bad luck!  
>  If I have to listen to this all damn day I’m not about to piss it off…  
>  I need to get out of this house. I need to go buy some GODDAMNED mushrooms…. 
> 
> RP 

  


You stop reading at that.

Tra la la.

“…Okay, so I’ve either bought a crazy drug addicts abandoned house, or a haunted cabin in the middle of the woods. And there’s no one around for miles….”  
“That is both awesome and terrifying.”

The sun has almost fully set and the sky is a mix of deep oranges and purples. You stand and start pacing between the living room and the kitchen.  
“Okay! Let’s think about this!” You talk aloud to yourself.  
“There’s a now-creepy door in my basement. Somebody heard a voice coming from there. I don’t know if they ever opened the door. There’s no dates on the letters.”  
You come back around to the living room and point to the TV.  
“This TV is like 30 years old. And there’s a VCR. So the last person who lived here must have been here in, like, the early 90’s or something.”  
Back to the kitchen…  
“I’ve seen enough horror movies to know where this is going.”  
You glance out the window.  
“It’s already dark. Prime time for ghosts or demons or whatever could be down there.”  
Living room…  
“My options are to call the realtor, no it’s too late at night, they'd be closed by now…”  
Walking faster…  
“…go to bed and hope nothing weird happens tonight…”  
Stop.  
“………. or open the door.”

...….

…

 

You grab the fire poker off the kitchen counter.

“This is so stupid.” _But also really exciting.  
Should I write a letter or something? Call my mom? Just in case…_ You stop to think.

“No, this is fine. She knows I moved out here. Realistically, the worst that can happen is I trip and bust my nose or something.” Impulsively, you fold the letters and shove them into your back pocket. With your poker and the key, you cautiously head down to the basement. At least the lights all work… You sing quietly to yourself to calm your nerves. 

_“It’s time for me to take it_  
_I’m the boss right now_  
_Not gonna fake it_  
_Not when you go down_  
_Cause this is my game_  
_And you better come to play.”_

You approach the door. Before putting the key in it you put your hand over the symbol. It doesn’t feel strange, just a door.  
After taking a calming breath you keep singing.

_“I used to hold my freak back_  
_Now I’m letting go_  
_I make my own choice”_

You put the key in the lock.

_“Bitch, I run this show._  
_So leave the lights on_  
_No, you can’t make me behave.”_

You turn the key, waiting to see if anything bursts out and shouts ‘boo’.

_“So you say I’m complicated_  
_That I must be outta my mind_  
_But you had me underrated, rated, rated.”_

Bolstered by your song, you push open the door, fire poker shakily raised but with a smirk on your face. 

_“What’s wrong with being, what’s wrong with being, what’s wrong with being confident?”_

The door is fully opened and it’s not what you expected. Honestly, you’re kind of disappointed. 

It’s just an empty stone room. 

“…. aw c’mon, really?!”  
All that build up for this? You deflate and drop the arm holding the poker. Still singing the chorus under your breath you observe the room, keeping your foot in front of the door in case it decides to swing shut for no reason. The walls are just stone, but you can’t tell what kind. It’s dark and smooth, and damp? Or maybe it’s just cold. 

_“What’s wrong with being confident?”_

Well now you just feel lame. Ridiculously relieved, but lame all the same. You sigh and turn to close the door.

*** _Tra la la._**

Immediately you freeze, your heart seizing up almost painfully. You whip around and hold the firepoker up to hit whatever made that sound. There’s nothing there.

*** Why don’t you sing with me. _Tra la la._**

**_NOPE._** _Nope nope NOPE screw this, I’m out._  
Frantically you reach for the door handle and pull as hard as you can. The door doesn’t budge. 

*** Would you care to join me?**

“NO!! N-no I-!!” You squeak/shriek and turn to run.

*** That doesn’t really matter.**

Suddenly all the lights go out, and the floor disappears beneath you. You scream as you clutch the poker to your chest, and you can feel yourself falling, falling, falling. Above you, there’s the sound of a heavy door slamming shut. 

*** _Tra la la._**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This is my first fic, I hope you enjoyed it. ^_^  
> I've already started the next chapter, where we'll have our first Underground encounter. I'm really excited to explore all the swapped and edgy characters.
> 
> The songs quoted in this chapter were "It Ain't Me" by Selena Gomez and "Confident" by Demi Lovato. 
> 
> Please follow me on Tumblr @darthgenki I'll be posting various skeletons and other artworks on there.


	2. Which way will you run?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You find yourself in a strange new place...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! This was turning out to be a lot longer than I thought, so a little earlier than expected, here is chapter 2!  
> I had planned for us to meet a certain someone by the end, but just to give you an idea, out of the 36 lines of notes I’d written for the second chapter, all of this was the first 5… 
> 
> Strap in folks, we’re in for a ride!

*** _Tra la la_**  
*** The river runs the wrong direction…**

It has to be a dream, you fell asleep on the couch upstairs, and you were having a dream. Its a dream! You couldn’t see anything and you had no way to orient yourself as you fell through the dark and screamed soundlessly, clutching at the fire poker like a lifeline. 

You felt hands on you, and you jump and violently recoiled. They aren’t painful or hurting you, in fact they seem to be calm, soothing, exploring you, figuring you out. The light touch only makes you panic more, it’s too familiar, too personal.  
“Don’t touch me!! Stop touching me!!” You cry out hysterically but no sound comes. Flailing and hyperventilating, you feel your heart in your throat, pounding a mile a minute. You can’t see! 

Then one of those phantom hands reaches into your chest, inside you, and wraps around your heart. 

You literally feel your heart stop. 

 

***

Shooting up with a horrible gasping cry, you find yourself on the floor of the creepy room in your basement. Sweating, panting as if you’d run a marathon, you whip your head around, looking for anything to explain… what just happened. You could see at the door was cracked and there was a muted light coming from behind it. You held your hand over your chest and felt your heart beating, fast and hard and alive. 

Letting out a huge sigh you fall to your back on the floor and wait for your heart to settle. “Ha… hahaha… oh my god I totally fell and knocked myself out.” Smiling at the huge sense of relief, you run your fingers through your hair and over your face. “Hahaha...” 

_That was certainly more excitement than I wanted… next time I call the realtor. I don’t care what time it is, I’d rather not give myself a concussion for curiosities sake…_

Feeling better, you shakily get to your feet. Grabbing the key and the fire poker off the floor, putting the former in your pocket, and you push open the door to leave. 

Blink.

_Um…. what?_

Outside of the door, instead of your basement, is a wall. A wall made of the same stone as the room you were just in. Your face blank, you turn from the wall to the room, and then back to the wall. Well, it was really a hall, dimly lit and going either left or right. 

“…..Excuse me… what?” your voice comes out as a flat monotone, and you just stand and blink at the wall again. 

Slowly you back up into the room and close the door in front of you. 

“… okay, okay okay. I’m going to open this door and see the basement.”

Opening the door… It’s a wall. 

You slam it shut again. 

“Okay, NO!” Spinning around you look at the room in front of you, panic starting to rise again.  
“Take me home! I did not sign up for this shit! I don’t care if you’re a magical elevator, or a teleporting box, take me back to my house!!” 

The room didn’t answer. 

You start to pace again. “Think it through, I was in my basement, heard the freaky voice… ” 

You stop and shout out to the room. “Hey! Tralala! Take me back!” 

Nothing happens, and your chest feels tight. 

“I would like to go back, please! Tra la la?”

No answer. 

You take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then you shrug in exasperation and throw your hands up. 

“Alright, I guess we’re doing this…” 

Holding out the poker like a weapon, you pull the door open a final time and poke your head out into the hall. 

It’s a plain, stone hall. No windows or anything that you can see, and the light seems to be coming from both ends. To the right is a more natural light, and to the left is a light blue glow. Cautiously, you step out of the room and close the door behind you. 

_I have no idea what could make a blue light like that…_ you think its probably something new and interesting, but as you look toward the right, you decide to go that way instead. You wanted out, anything interesting could be saved for another day. 

As you go you realize the hall isn’t as plain as you thought, the light seems to be coming from little crystals embedded in the walls. Blues and pinks mixed into a natural dim light. Like a bare room in the early morning, before the sun comes up. 

A small room interrupts the hall, which continues on the opposite side, but the room itself has two things that seem out of place. A huge, beautiful blue flower that you’ve never seen before, and a short table with what looked like cheese, encased in a pink crystal of some kind. You pause, looking at the cheese in confusion, _what the…_ before going over to the flower. 

You kneel down and gaze at it, it’s entirely blue from the petals to the stem, and it’s utterly lovely. “Oooh…” you say, touching the petals delicately. 

“Oooh…” the flower says. 

You pulled back your hand like it had shocked you. Staring, you stammer out “Did… did you just copy me?”

After a moment of silence you reach out and cautiously touch the petal again. 

“Did… did you just copy me?”

“Hah!” Eyes wide with pure joy, you touch the petal again.

“Hah!” It laughed back at you. 

_Oh my god, this is so cool!_ You play with the flower for a little while, talking to it, and then singing a little and trying to harmonize when you play it back. 

“I wonder if I can take this with me?” Looking around the flowers base, it’s roots look very sturdy and it’s at this point you realize the floor is really just the ground. You hadn’t noticed that until now, were you underground? 

Coming back to the flower, _I don’t want to pick it… does it belong to someone?_ There doesn’t seem to be anyone around, but realistically you had no idea where you were or how far you’d be walking to get home. So, resigned, you sigh and say one last thing to the flower. 

“Don’t give up, I believe in you.”

“Don’t give up, I believe in you.” 

_Thank you little guy, I needed to hear that._ Smiling, you stand and dust yourself off. You take another look at the cheese, and then decide against touching it, and continue moving forward. 

You hear running water as the wall to the left of you opens up, and you see what looks like an underground lake, complete with a tiny dock and large cat-tail like plants growing in the dark water. In front of you is a field of tall grass, just reaching your nose. You don’t really want to walk through there, _what kind of bugs could hide in grass that high? Blegh…_ but this is the way forward. At least it beats swimming.

Pushing through, you cover your nose to prevent it from tickling and making you sneeze. Its actually quite soft grass, and no brambles or seeds or anything are getting stuck to your clothes as you pass through. 

You had just about reached the other side when you hear a loud metallic CLANG! from up ahead and feel the ground shudder. 

Immediately you drop to the ground to hide. You’re still concealed by the grass but you did NOT want whatever made that sound to see you. Still covering your nose with one hand, you use the poker to very slowly push some grass aside and peer through. 

You see a long wooden walkway, with quite a few twists and turns, as well as a path above that with multiple stone columns reaching to the ceiling. On the walkway is a creature, and you have to hold your breath to keep from gasping.

It’s a dinosaur! Or something like it, a weird bipedal lizard that was a dirty yellow, with had broad ridges on its head and a thick tail that whipped around, smacking the boards beneath its feet. It was wearing heavy metal armor and carrying a brutal looking battle axe. _Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap…_

It looked like it was sniffing the air, its head turned this way and that, looking for something. 

As slowly as you dared, you withdrew the poker and pulled yourself closer to the wall. The dinosaur sharply turned toward the grass and froze with its axe raised. _Oh god, I'm dead, I’m so dead._ It suddenly stomped towards you. Pounding its feet so you could hear the weight of its armor clanging with each step. 

You were completely frozen in place, not daring to breathe, petrified just like that stupid cheese. 

The creature stood at the edge of the grass for what felt like an eternity. You could hear it breathing. Suddenly, with a rush of air you felt it swing it’s axe horizontally through the grass, cutting off the top foot of the stalks. The chopped stems fluttered down around you, and you remained utterly paralyzed out of terror, still hidden in the grass that remained standing. 

You hear a disgusted snort, and then the creature stomped away, back across the walkway. With a great strength it leapt up to the ledge with the columns, and eventually you heard the sounds of clanking metal fade away. 

Shaking terribly, you collapse to the ground and clutch your heart. “Oh my god… what the hell was that?!” Whispering to yourself, you slowly get to your feet, now clutching your fire poker with white knuckles. “It’s ok, we’re good. It didn’t see me, we’re fine.” 

Making your way down the boarded path, your eyes dart left and right, listening with every fiber of you being for the sound of the creature returning. You would have found this area pretty relaxing if you weren’t so utterly terrified. The water sounded nice and the plants swayed pleasantly. It smelled very fresh down here, no mold or anything you would expect from underground. Maybe you were just thinking about it to take your mind of the _freaking armored dinosaur with a battle axe._

Finally reaching the end of the walkway, you see a little raft on the water. There’s more light up ahead, so you think there must be another room or something, right? You don’t relish the thought of being stuck out there or falling in the water… On the other hand, you bet that dinosaur can’t swim with all that metal platemail. 

So, cautiously, you step onto the raft. There seems to be a rope running along side it, leading forward through the water. You use the rope to pull yourself along, the silence of the cavern pressing in, interrupted only by the occasional splash of the raft. 

Sigh… _Ok, so I’m underground…_ that’s not a place you ever wanted to be. Not a place you ever _imagined_ you would be. Isn’t that high up on the list of universal fears? Being buried alive? You shudder, _Nope, not thinking about that right now. We’re gonna follow this light, avoid any more long lost intelligent dinosaurs, and find a way out._

Oh yeah, speaking of which, THERE WAS A DINOSAUR! A dinosaur with a _weapon._ You shake your head, that would be so cool if it weren’t so bizarre and freaking terrifying… It didn’t say anything, could it speak? Is there anything friendlier down here that you could ask for help? 

At last, you came to the edge of the water and the raft gently bumped into another wooden walkway. Climbing off of it, you took a look around. There are five plaques on the wall to your right with writing on them, another small dock on the far side, and a path leading to the left that seems to stop at a wall. _Huh, ok guess we’re going back._ When you turn around, however, you see the raft floating away behind you. 

“No!” You cry and reach out for the rope, but that’s gone too. 

The raft gradually disappears across the lake. Slowly, you pull back your hand and wrap your arms around yourself, feeling suddenly cold, trapped, and very, very alone. Now what? There’s no where left to go…

You don’t actually hear it, only get a fleeting shiver, so slight you’ve already forgotten about the words that were carried with it. 

*** which way will you run?**  
*** _Tra la la._**


	3. I'm having a little concert, hum hum hum.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You encounter your first monsters in Waterfall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm soooo tired, it's almost 2am here. I'll come back and edit this a little more tomorrow, but I really wanted to get it posted! 
> 
> As always, thanks so much for reading. <3

Crap, crap, crap.

The raft was gone, and now that it seemed you had very little choice but to swim, the water looked dark and utterly terrifying. With that dinosaur running around, you had absolutely zero desire to go into water to be eaten by eels, or subterranian alligators, or whatever. 

Looking fretfully back to the room, you saw that there were several plaques on the wall to your right. The one closest to you had a rudimentary drawing of… something. 

That drawing… you had no idea what it was, some kind of creature? A weird winged thing with horns and creepy eyes. You shuddered, there’s no way that thing actually exists, right?  
_But, what about the dinosaur?_ Shaking your head to banish the thought, you examine the next plaque. The writing looks ancient… you can just make the words.

“If a monster defeats a human, they can take its SOUL. A monster with a human SOUL… A horrible beast with unfathomable power.” 

“….Monsters…” That would explain the dinosaur… but, real monsters? You glance back at the illustration, and with another shudder, you follow the line of plaques to what you assume is the first one, and begin to read again.

“The War of Humans and Monsters.”  
“Why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed that they had nothing to fear. Humans are unbelievably strong. It would take the SOUL of nearly every monster… just to equal the power of a single human SOUL.”  
“But humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their SOUL. Its power allows it to persist outside the human body, even after death.” 

“If a monster defeats a human… they can take it’s SOUL.”

 _My soul? Is that a tangible thing that can be taken? And it persists when I… die?_  
_What about monsters? Why are their souls so weak compared to a humans?_ Your heart feels heavy in your chest, and you rest your hand over it. Pensively, you turn to the room once more. 

The raft was gone, and you firmly rejected swimming back across the dark lake. Maybe there was something on that other side… This was a dock too, with stairs leading down into the water. Kneeling down to look, you observe that they went deep enough, or maybe the water was dark enough, that you couldn’t see the end of them. You shuddered again, thinking of all the nasty, bug eyed things that could live in the black waters of the cave. 

*** _Tra la la_**  
Ugh, that stupid song was stuck in your head… You didn’t hear it exactly, but somehow you knew the words.  
***Doors made with violence lead to—**  
**Nope!** You aggressively shake your head and started humming loudly, trying to ignore whatever it had to say. 

….. 

……….. was it gone?

***I‘m having a little concert, hum hum hum.**

You drop your head in failure, but then you pause. _Huh, that was in the letter from before. Did… did I just think of that because of the song?_  
“…hum hum hum.” you carry a little tune this time.

But when you do, you hear something, faintly… “Hum hum hum.” 

You bolt to your feet, listening, heart accelerating. Was it another monster?  
It stops, and you don’t hear it again. Timidly, you clear your throat and try again. “Hum hum hum.”

“Hum hum hum…” 

Again! It’s a male voice, not the same as the one in your basement. Feeling slight relief at that, you go closer to the wall across from the historical plaques. There’s a small crack in the wall… you follow it with your finger, running it along up and over your head, and down again. A door! It was too perfect a shape to be accidental, but there was no handle, no hinges… you look for any kind of switch, or lever, anything to open it. Nothing.  
“Well,” you raised your trusty fire poker, “It worked once, let’s try for round two.” 

You poke and pry the rod into the crack as best as you can. It’s a chore, as its too wide to fit anywhere. Suddenly it slips and scratches up the wall and away from the crack, pulling you off balance and face first into the wall. Frustrated and rubbing your nose, you sharply whack the the thing against the door. 

As soon as you hit the center of the wall, it crumbles away, as if that were the way to open it all along. 

Stunned, you slowly and cautiously step through. 

This room was far better lit, there was a river breaking the room in two, and several large green flowers buds on the other side. But that wasn’t the most interesting thing you could see. Sitting on the edge of the river was a… horse? Fish? He was rubbing his shoulder and had his head down, like he was hiding himself in his short mane, his ears folded back against his head. 

He was also quite muscular… you shake your head. _Not the time to think about that, he looks… sad? Maybe hurt?_ Cautiously you approach the side of the river. 

“Hello? Are you ok?” The horse-fish-boy jerked and looked up at you in shock _(a hippocampus, the word suddenly comes to you)_ , then he averted his eyes back to the water.

“I’m… fine…” He said so quietly you weren’t sure if you heard him correctly. 

“Are you… did you hurt your shoulder?” You asked, lowering your fire poker and looking at him curiously. He shook his head, but didn’t say anything else. You try again. “Were you the one singing before? You’re really good.” 

He blushes furiously and turns to the side, still not looking at you directly. But you can see he has a smile on his face now.

“Thanks… were you singing too? I haven’t seen you around here before… “ he mutters the last sentence almost too quietly again, and before you can answer you hear a woman’s clear voice call out.  
“Shyron!!” He and you jump and he scrambles to (stand?). You automatically raise the poker again, when you see a.. slug? No, its a fish… with a floating fish head….. _what the…?_

She moves very quickly for what she looks like, maybe its two fish put together, like a symbiotic relationship, you wonder… but that’s really not important, because you also notice she has the most gorgeous, flowing hair you’ve ever seen. It’s light and bouncy and thick, and you are immediately jealous and weirdly entranced by it. 

“Shyron!! You were supposed to meet me on the other side.” She approaches him and reaches to put her fin on the side of his face, but when she notices you she stops. Her mouth slowly becomes a very toothy smile. 

“Oh! Did you make a friend…” You aren’t sure about her smile, that’s a lot of teeth… 

The monster called Shyron nodded his head, and turned to smile shyly at you. You cautiously smiled back at him and nodded. “Yes! I’m new here, do you think you can help me?”

Her eyes light up at that and she casually flips her hair over her shoulder.  
“Oh, yes! We can help you. Do you know how to cross?” She gestures pointedly at the river, her eyes never leaving you. 

You look up and down the running water, seeing no obvious way across sans swimming. You shrug your shoulders, still eyeing her hesitantly. 

She laughs, and you can’t help but think of a haughty head cheerleader. Frowning, you glance at Shyron. He looks from her to you, then gives what you think is an apologetic smile.

“Oh wow, you really ARE new here. Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to help you out.”

She looks to Shyron and gestures her head commandingly. He immediately goes to a green bud on the ground behind him and plucks it, placing it in the water ahead of you. It gently floats across the stream to you, settles there, and does nothing else. You raise your eyebrows at the pair of them, but notice that he’s already grabbing another one. 

“You can call me Ayren, I’m pretty important around here, “ She claims, flipipng her hair again, and you swear when she flutters her eyes that several sparkes drift away from her eyelashes. 

Shyron and Ayren… He places the third flower. 

“But you know what? It doesn’t really matter what your name is.” She grins, widely and without any kindness as Shyron places the last flower. In the corner of your eye you see them bloom in to beautiful wide, white blossoms. 

But your attiention is on Ayren, who is looking at you hungrily. “Because you’re going to die!!” 

Your heart leaps into your throat as the world suddenly shifts into black and white. Everything looks so clear and defined around you, and you feel a tight tugging sensation in your chest. Your hand flies up, and you feel something pass through it. 

In front of you, glowing brightly, is a flourescent magenta heart. Is that… but you had no time to wonder, and noticed the two monsters bearing down on you. They rushed across the flowers and Ayren drew herself up taller, then in the strangest manuever you’ve ever seen, she flipped her hair at you, and a… wig came at you? 

No, it was a blade that materialized out of her hair! Made of hair!! 

Scrambling out of the way, hearing the hair whoosh past you, you see her flip her head two, three, four more times, sending waves of hair blades at you. You struggle to avoid them all. Two, three… but the fourth caught your left arm as you cried out, it left a sizable cut and blood was aready starting to flow. The heart in front of you vibrated with the hit. 

Glaring up at her, You barley noticed Shyron had snuck behind you while you were distracted. He hummed shyly, and when the sound came out of him, so did a single wobbly music note. It wavered toward you, but you knew you didn’t want this to hit you either. 

Easily stepping aside, you watched it pass you by. Shyron looked ashamed. You take advantage of that, shouting, “I thought you said we were friends! Why are you attacking me?” Turning to Ayren, you add, “What the hell is wrong with you??”

“It’s the rules, girly. You look pretty weak, I bet our LV is higher than yours!” She said with girlish gleee that did NOT match her grin. 

“Wha—My love?!”

That… didn’t make any sense, but this was not the time. You had the fire poker, but… you didn’t really want to hit them. Also Shyron looked like he was upset. Looking directly at his eyes you sing his song back to him, “La la la!”, hoping it would be more effective here than in the history room. 

Shyron seemed to brighten at that, and began to hum in earnest. Oh no… 

More music notes came flying at you, these looking more solid and moving faster. You doged them as best you could, feeling awesome when you acutally suceeded! But suddenly something hit you from behind, painfully cutting you straight across your lower back. 

“Ahh!!“ You fell to the ground, tensing with the pain, your litttle heart flashing in time to your throbbing back, as you squinted back at Ayren. She was grinning victoriously and doing that thing with her eyes, flipping her hair and sparkling. 

Fine, two could play at this game…

You stand with more confidence than you felt, raise the poker in her direction, reach up to take your hair out of its bun and dramatically swish it from side to side, tryng for the same effect as her. Nothing flies out of your hair of course, but she looks mortified. 

“H-how dare you!” She shakes her hair about and dramaticaly flips it like a swimsuit model, and this time a full on wave of hair blades came from her goregeous curls. 

“Oh crap…” You dive to the side of the room, narrrowly avoiding the wave, when you hear huming from behind you. Jumping to your feet, you do a quick and graceless pirouette to avoid the notes coming from Shyron. 

Where Ayren was fuming, Shyron looked somewhat happy, but he was also just as intent on killing you, with a glint of pride in his eye that wasn’t there before. Standing, you draw yourself up and put out as much confidence as you can muster. 

“And now for my ultimate attack! “ You cry loudly to them, and, singing ShyRons song, you do a spin and just as dramatically flip your hair from your knees to your back, looking through your eyelashes at Ayren. Her face is utterly furious! 

“Oh, that is IT!!” She screams. Winding herself up, her two bodies quaking with rage, she flips her hair so hard she flies up-over backwards and (accidentally?) into the river behind her. She doesn’t come back up. 

“Ayren!!” Shyron calls out behind you, but when you turn to him, he looks at you reprehensively, and shrugs. “That’s… that’s fine, she wasn’t important to me, anyway.” 

You look from him to the water, and he takes the oportunity to sing at you once more. You feel like there are more eyes watching you as this time you dodge with certainty. When the last of the notes pass you by, you drop your poker and raise your hands in peace.

“Look, Shyron, please! I don’t want to fight you, and I think she might need help. Can we call a truce?”

He hesitates, looking suspicious at your request. 

“You can totally tell her you won, I promise you won’t see me around here again.”

After a few more moments, he ducks his head once more and nods, rushing off into the water after Ayren. The glowing red-purple heart that had stuck with you for the entire fight floated gently back into your chest, warming your body and bringing color back into the world,

You collapse to your knees, really feeling your injuries now. 

“Ow ow ow….” You crawl over to the river and take off your hoodie, get some water in your hand and you clean your wounds as best you can. The cut on your arm was actually a series of small cuts, like if you’d fallen on concrete and scraped it up, so it was mostly superficial and probably wouldn’t scar. The cut on your back though… 

You had no way to check how bad the damage was. All you knew was that it hurt, a lot. 

Lifting your shirt, you lean backwards over the river. You hissed in pain, but after a while you felt it was clean. There was nothing to be done to stop the bleeding though. 

“What the hell was that…” you murmer to yourself. You sit quietly by the river, not moving and trying to understand what was going on. 

Humans, monsters… flowers. It was all so much… And they tried to kill you, had openly admitted it! Although you guess that’s to be expected. If that story was anything to go by, then monsters must hate humans. But those two didn’t even seem to realize you were a human… 

… How the hell did you even get down here? 

You don’t know how long you sat there by the river. Long enough to stop bleeding, at least. In the quiet you noticed that you could hear tinkling sounds in the distance, like little windchimes. It was very peaceful. Then you looked at the ceiling, and gasped aloud. 

The entire roof was covered in those glowing crystals, like the walls before. But these were much larger, and they looked so much like the stars… You stared in wonder and absorbed the beauty of it all. 

This place was enourmous… how far under the mountain could it be? How was anyone living down here? The monsters… 

Those monsters attacked you, its true. But truthfully, plenty of humans had attacked you too. Despite everything, there was beauty to be found down here. You took comfort in that. 

Finally, you put your sweater back on and stood. Your back protested at the movement, but you had to keep moving forward. You couldn’t stay by the river, it was too open and Ayren might come back to check if you were still around. If nothing else, you were also getting terribly hungry. You realized you still hadn’t had dinner, and you had no clue how long you’d been unconscious in that room. 

Tentatively, you stepped on the flowers that Shyron had placed, and they felt sturdy enough to walk across. On the other side, you found a patch of those seeds, a strange bell-shaped flower, and another plaque. You approach the bell, and curiously touch it, expecting it to ring and glad when it didn’t disappoint. With a small smile you read the plaque. 

“If an error is made, the Bell Blossom can call Bridge Seeds back to where they started.”

“What?” You look to the river, and it was true! The bridge flowers were gone. 

_Huh, that’s nifty._ You explore the rest of the room and find the other end of the river, breaking the path in half once again, and leading to a steep waterfall. Looking out past it you let out an “Oooo…” as you can see many waterfalls and glowing blue areas spread out far from you. You squint, trying to get a better look, but you are just too far from them to see well. 

You want to badly to explore more, but with your injuries…. You sigh and look back to the river, thinking of a way to cross it.  
_I wonder if…_ you go to the budding flowers ShyRon had used and pick one. It’s a little heavier than you would have thought… and place it in the water to let it float to the other side. 

Going back and forth, you place the fourth flower and they bloom into the same beautiful white bridge from before. You found yourself wishing that you had your cell phone with you, then you could take photos of the ceiling and the flowers. 

Feeling a little better, you walk across the bridge and come to a new patch of grass. Remembering the dinosaur woman, you immediately enter and sit in the grass. You feel safer here, and it’s a nice quiet place to think. 

Oh man… how can you unpack all of this?

There were monsters walking around, apparently souls were a thing… Not just an idea, but an actual tangible thing. And someone could take yours? Is that like, a deal with the devil? Did you have to consent, or could they just rip it out of you? You think of the drawing on the wall and shudder, pulling your legs to your chest and hugging them. 

You begin to sing quietly to yourself, trying to cheer up, and to avoid thinking about souls and monsters…

_“You only need the light when it’s burning low_  
_only miss the sun when it starts to snow_  
_only know you love her when you let her go…”_

_“Staring at the ceiling in the dark_  
_same old empty feeling in your heart_  
_‘cause love comes slow, but it goes so far…_

_“You see her when you close your eyes,_  
_maybe one day you’ll understand why_  
_everything you touch surely dies.”_

_“And you only need the light when it’s burning low_  
_only miss the sun when it starts to snow_  
_only know you love her when you let her go._  
_Only know you’ve been high when your feeling low_  
_only hate the road when you’re missing home_  
_only know you love her—“_

**“ALPHYS!!”** You nearly jump out of your skin as you hear the voice, loud and commanding, coming from somewhere above you.

Heart skipping out of your chest, you press yourself into as small a ball as you can against the wall, looking up. There’s a ledge overlooking the grass you’re in, and standing on it you can barely see the outline of a figure. The light is shining from somewhere behind him, oh my god, how long has he been there? Did he hear me—

“I KNOW YOU’RE OUT THERE! YOU’RE LATE FOR YOUR REPORT!!” He shouts impatiently. You hear a dreadfully familiar clanging sound coming from the right. The dinosaur! You practically swallow your heart, which is now pounding in your throat, and hope against hope that they don’t see you. 

“Captain!” a gruff woman’s voice, “I have news. There’s been some suspicious activity in Waterfall, someone was sneaking around near the crystal-cheese room, and as I was on my way to report I found evidence of a recent fight in the bell-flower room.”

“THAT’S NO EXCUSE FOR TARDINESS!” he pauses, then gestures grandly with one arm.  
“FIND OUT IF IT WAS A HUMAN! INTERROGATE THE WASHUAS AND FORCE THEM TO CLEAN ANY MORE MESSES THIS INTRUDER HAS CAUSED!” 

“Yes, Captain! Although,” You can almost hear the sneer in her voice, “It’s clear to me that this disturbance must have come through Snowdin. Almost as though someone’s been slacking off.” 

“I WILL NOT TOLERATE YOUR INSINUATIONS!!” 

He takes a single threatening step towards her, and there’s silence from the two monsters as they stare each other down, you hardly dare to breathe. 

“THAT’S NOT THE CASE, OR I’LL HAVE TO TEACH BOTH YOU AND THAT MUTT ANOTHER LESSON.” You see the dinosaur woman’s smirk faulter a little at that. 

“YOU ARE DISMISSED!” 

She stands up straight and nods her head, then runs off in the direction you came from. 

Staying as still as you possibly can, heart still beating a mile a minute, covered in a cold sweat, you stare unmoving at the person she addressed as Captain. 

He was short, even shorter than her, which surprised you. Not only that, but he appeared to be severely immaciated. His back was too the light, but you could see that his eyes were glowing as they glowered at the darkness in front of him. He wasn’t looking at you, but he held your gaze for a long time. 

You didn’t dare move when he was so close, but you were starting to cramp up from sitting so tensely. 

Suddenly, the figure raised his gloved hand. A series of razor sharp bones burst from the ground beneath you, completely surrounding your hiding place. A shriek escaped you before you could stop yourself, and you clapped your hands over your mouth. Your eyes were bulging and your heart now painful with how hard and fast it was beating. 

You quickly looked back up to the shadowed figure, knowing that he must have heard you.

He was gone!

Shit, where did he go?! 

Terrified, you remained as low to the ground as you could, and crawled to the edge of the grass, peaking through the bones that encircled you. Footsteps, and then a shadow emerged from the light ahead, as the menacing figure approached. When he got closer, you gasped at the sight of him. 

He was a skeleton, with sharp red gloves and a dark uniform, studded boots and a battle worn bandana tied around his neck. 

And he had murder in his triumphant eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song referenced is "Let Her Go" by The Passengers. I know I mixed the lyrics around, but I thought it was fitting for her situation. 
> 
> Follow me on tumblr @darthgenki ~!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and thank you for your comments! 
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr @darthgenki. See you next time! ヽ(＾Д＾)ﾉ


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